Getting More Customers
July 28th, 2016 // 3:16 am @ Scott Manning
Is a very tricky thing in any business; as the idea of “more” is not always the right idea.
First of all, the most expensive thing any business does is the acquiring of new customers. Therefore there has to be strategy and foresight.
It is very easy to get caught up in the “more” game without really understanding or having a clear focus on what you want the outcome to be.
What matters when you start thinking of growing your business by getting more new customers are three things:
1st – Who are your most valuable customers currently?
Which ones are worth the most?
Which ones refer the most?
Which ones say yes the fastest?
Most business people get confused in all customers being created equally and they get as many as they can get without realizing what the real differences are.
You do have marketing costs, no matter if that is paid advertising, referrals or time spent beating the bushes.
Then you have conversion costs, nurturing, educating, employee time engaging and any costs of your sales process.
Then you have what we call the ‘new customer experience’ which is an extension of the sales process. It is usually the actual integration of the customer from lead to prospect to customer/client/patients and there are always costs associated with this.
And you have the follow-up costs if you do not close someone, plus what we often call ongoing relationship marketing, among other things.
Of course I say “costs” and I use that word intentionally because that is how people think of them; instead you should be considering all of these things …
INVESTMENTS
Many business people put more time and effort into thinking about what to do with their money instead of thinking about how to make more money.
If you were going to go shopping for something and you wanted to make the most economical decision for yourself, you put time, thought and strategy into that.
If you are going to put your money into an investment you want to get the highest return. So why then do we go after customers blindly and/or give up to easily?
You would never do that with actual monetary investments. The problem is: this part of your business is worth way more than any investment on earth ever could be.
2nd – Where did these customer come from?
We want to go fishing where the fish are that you want more of.
This is a very strategic and not really that difficult of a decision. We just often leave it up to chance or we keep getting customers and are satisfied with that instead of always trying to elevate the quality to impact all 3 areas listed in number one.
Now, many customers can be great customers if you follow the 1, 2, 3 step approach I laid out. None the less, it is always better to start by deliberately getting more of the customers you actually want. The ones who are your best and most valuable, say yes the fastest, pay the most, refer often and so on and so forth.
Great customers come from places where there are more of them.
Go get them.
3rd – You have to ask yourself (and even better ask your customers), what made them buy? What makes them great?
Really assess this. If you have any experience in business at all, and even common sense in many cases, you will know these answers.
And yet we often do nothing with the information. Here is what I always challenge my clients on…
Do EVERYTHING that makes your customer a better customer.
So if you know what makes your best customer so great, then repeat everything possible to take any lead and prospect to cultivate them into your best customer.
Use the appropriate marketing messages that attract the ones that are the best and have the same mindset of the people you want more of.
Orchestrate a selling, education, nurturing and conversion system that transforms every customer into an ideal customer; or at least gives them the chance to.
These are all smart things to do, that smart and serious business owners pay attention to and then deliberately make happen. Based your decisions on the information you gather and never stop improving the system to maximize every new customer – not just focusing on more being the answer.
Inside of these details you will find the problem that often makes the idea of “more” not even necessary. Or better stated, it will make “more” worth a lot more to you. Exponential growth is possible when you embrace and master everything that it takes to have not only more customers but great customers.
Well…what are you waiting for…think through this, make a plan, and get fishin’.
Category : Blog
